Hello to all. I find myself in a pickle. The Rangy Has a CVC joint, front left I think that has started clattering while making turns at low speed. The Disco driver door latch still is not letting me out of the vehicle, and I'm on my second replacement from Rimmer Bros. so it's still out of service. Winter is approaching, I don't have time to replace the CVC joints and have already parked the Rangy for the winter, which leaves me with a midsized, overpowered dodge pickup that is a nightmare to drive on slick streets.

Here is the question, how long do any of you think the CVC joints may hold up before shelling out completely? Might they get me through the winter?

I've honesty never had a CVC joint go bad on any of my rovers in all these years, so I have no Idea what to expect. It's an 99 HSE Callaway in case you didn't read my siggy.

Thanks

My experience is they just get worse and worse, noisier and noisier when turning. I have never had one fail completely either on a p38 or other front wheel drive cars I have owned. You could nurse it along for a bit and keep your foot off the gas particularly when turning.
It is not too big a job changing them if you have got all the bits and the half shaft comes out OK. Maybe half a day.

Usually they only start to fail when the gaiter splits and lets the grease out and dirt in, the sort of thing that would be picked up immediately on an MoT test here. I've never had one need attention on the 4 P38s I've owned or any on the ones I look after for the owners. Mine are still the originals too. As Dave says, just treat it gently, when it is knocking it's making things worse, when quiet there's no additional wear taking place.

Consider your routes and avoid things like pulling away off a steep hill into a tight right angle, or more, junction.

I had a CV joint on a SAAB 900 pretty much explode on me in such a scenario. First knock as I balanced power, clutch and handbrake to pull away. Loud bang, nasty shudders et al and not much drive as we went over the camber on full lock. Impossible to abandon there but fortunately just enough drive left to limp it 50 yards to the top of a steep windy hill with a nice bus stop lay by at the bottom so it could be coasted down to relative safety. The collection of fractured bits that fell out when I took it apart was impressive. Amazing that the gaiter held it in. Never did figure out how it still managed to drive.

Automatics are kinder to the drive than manuals but still something to consider. Don't forget to settle it on the handbrake before engaging park. Besides jolting the park pawl as the car rolls into balance it will also stress the joint.

Its impact and jolt loads against stationary that really makes cracks spread. Running loads not so much, as there is far less inertia to work against, until things get really bad. Knock due to wear can be nursed along for ages but if one of the drive components has a fracture crack its much more risky.

Clive

the first thing to do is to look at the cv boot and see if its split, if so and you want a cheap option, bye a new boot ( some even come with grease) dismantal and wash out the cv, re grease and a new boot . if the boot is split it most likely just have dirt in it

Thanks for all the fast replies. I feel better about it now. Like I said, this is the first one I've ever had begin to make noise.
You may very well be right about the damaged boot (gaiter). I have checked them, but it's been a while.
I don't drive it hard. Most people pass me all the time on city roads but not so much on the Highway. It's very happy running along at 80 to 90 mph.
Mine is automatic being a US model and I always set the park brake before taking my foot off the main brake, it doesn't roll that way.
I'll just have to find bigger parking spaces.

I checked the boots today, and they seem to be in good shape. No splits, tears or cracks. I felt inside the bellows as much as I could, no problems there either.
I did come across a bit of up and down thrust play in one direction of the front prop shaft U joint. It needs attention but should be good for a while the way I drive.

I know the previous owner had very bad mechanics working on it. Very shoddy work. It could be that the boots were bad and then replaced without replacing the CVC joints or attempting to clean and regrease them. Unknown.

I'll check the diffs and transfer box tomorrow as it's been a while and then pull it back out from the front of the drive for the road. I can switch off between it and the Dodge depending on the weather and road conditions. I may even get the Discovery figured out at some point yet.

a uni will let you down more so than a cv , i would fix the uni?